Erika Kirk has recounted the unsettling detail she noticed upon seeing her husband’s body following his assassination earlier this month.
Kirk was fatally shot while attending an event hosted by his organization, Turning Point USA, at Utah Valley University on September 10.
Authorities sought the public’s help in identifying the shooter after surveillance captured a suspect on a rooftop at the college campus.
The FBI later announced the arrest of a 22-year-old suspect named Tyler Robinson, who has been charged with the murder of Kirk.
A memorial for Kirk was held on Sunday (September 21), featuring speeches from prominent figures including Donald Trump, JD Vance, and Erika, in front of a crowd exceeding 60,000 people.
Erika, now the CEO of Turning Point USA, shared her experience with the New York Times in an interview published on Sunday, describing the moment she saw her husband’s body after the shooting.
“His eyes were semi-open,” she told the outlet. “And he had this knowing, Mona Lisa-like half-smile. Like he died happy. Like Jesus rescued him. The bullet came, he blinked, and he was in heaven.”
Erika reflected on seeing her husband’s body in the hospital during her speech at Kirk’s memorial on Sunday.
She expressed (via The Guardian): “I saw the wound that ended his life. I felt everything he would expect to feel. I felt shock. I felt horror, and a level of heartache that I didn’t even know existed.
“But there was something else, too. Even in death, I could see the man that I love.”
Erika went on to reveal that the surgeon assured her Kirk did not suffer, as she continued: “I also saw on his lips the faintest smile. And that told me something important. It revealed to me a great mercy from God in this tragedy.
“When I saw that, it told me Charlie didn’t suffer. Even the doctor told me – it was something so instant that even if Charlie had been shot in the operating room itself, nothing could have been done.”
Erika further explained that her husband experienced ‘no pain, there was no fear, no agony’ after being shot in Utah.
“One moment, Charlie was doing what he loved, arguing and debating on campus, fighting for the gospel and truth in front of a big crowd, then he blinked,” she said.
“He blinked and saw his savior in paradise.”